MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama State Employees’ Insurance Board, which provides health coverage for more than 100,000 state workers and their families, is searching for a new CEO as it manages a 2026 budget increase that fell short of requests.”
Members of the SEIB Executive Committee met recently to discuss progress on the hunt for a new top executive. William Ashmore, the current CEO who announced his retirement in March, pledged to remain in the role through the search.
Speaking of his nearly 40 years of leading SEIB, Ashmore told Alabama Daily News that he considered it a privilege to work for the agency as long as he had.
On the agency’s hunt for a new CEO, Charles Baughman with the recruiting firm ITAC Solutions, said six eligible candidates have expressed interest in the role, and that given the narrow and specific qualifications for the job, considered the interest healthy.
Last year, SEIB was faced with a potential budget shortfall due to policy changes at the federal level, including a cut to Medicare payouts and a reduction of the federal government’s cost share of prescription drugs. That potential budget shortfall, however, was modest compared to the funding challenge facing the Public Education Employees’ Health Insurance Plan, or PEEHIP, projected to be $283 million in 2027.
Amid meetings of a legislative study commission last year tasked with addressing the projected budget shortfalls, Ashmore said he had planned to ask the Legislature for a 5% increase in funding for fiscal year 2026. Funding for the agency has remained largely static, seeing only a 2.7% increase from 2010 to 2024.
Lawmakers ultimately approved an increase of less than half of the 5% requested by Ashmore, from a monthly $997 per employee for fiscal year 2025 to $1,025 for fiscal year 2026, which begins on Oct. 1.
Alabama Finance Director Bill Poole, a member of both the SEIB and PEEHIP boards, told ADN Wednesday that navigating the less-than-requested amount of funding will be a large part of SEIB’s efforts this summer and early fall. Whether SEIB experiences a budget shortfall, he said, wouldn’t be able to be determined until the end of the current fiscal year.
“The SEIB Board – as well as the PEEHIP Board, which I also serve on – will evaluate the program results to date,” Poole told ADN.
“What do the claims look like? What have we experienced? We’ll forecast out projected estimates relative to revenues and expenditures in administering the plan and submit a new rate request for the next fiscal year to the Legislature, which is, of course, an annualized process. So I think all of those decisions lie in the future.”
In the case that expenditures end up outweighing revenue, Poole said, SEIB reserves may have to be drawn from to maintain the new rate of $1,025 per member.
“At the end of this fiscal year, we’ll know whether we did or did not have a shortfall relative to revenues and expenses,” he said. “If there is a shortfall, then presumably any plan – this is a generic statement – would have to draw into reserves to balance. I’m not aware that that’s the projection right now.”
Candidates for SEIB CEO are currently being screened, with the agency accepting applications for the role through May 30. In June, the SEIB Executive Committee is expected to conduct interviews with candidates, and make a decision shortly thereafter.
At least for Poole, he remained hopeful that whomever the committee ultimately selects, that they’re able to maintain a similar quality of work the agency saw under Ashmore.
“We’ve had the benefit of very strong leadership for a long period of time, so I don’t think we want to deviate from that general skill set, but certainly, (we’d like) somebody with experience running large benefit or health plans,” Poole told ADN. “The health sector is complex. Policies are changing on the federal level, and so we need someone who has experience navigating those complexities, successfully, for the benefit of the beneficiaries and the taxpayers.”